Binance will shut down its Bitcoin mining pool on November 10 after the service’s hashrate declined by around 65% from December levels. Miners still connected to the platform must switch to other mining providers before the deadline.

Figures from Hashrate Index show that Binance Pool commanded approximately 26 exahashes per second (EH/s) in December, representing about 2.3% of Bitcoin’s total network hashrate. Its computing power has since fallen to roughly 9.2 EH/s, leaving it with less than 1% of the network and placing it 11th among mining pools.

An exahash per second equals one quintillion computational attempts every second to solve the puzzle required to mine a Bitcoin block. Mining pools aggregate the computing power of many machines and distribute rewards among participants, helping miners earn payments more regularly than they would by mining independently.

Binance Pool operated using a full pay-per-share (FPPS) model. This system compensated miners according to their contributed work while leaving the pool responsible for the risk of producing fewer blocks than expected.

Earlier this week, Binance announced that Binance Pool, Pool Savings, Cloud Mining, its transaction accelerator and associated services would close at 7 a.m. UTC on November 10. The exchange attributed the decision to a continuing review of its product lineup, without disclosing the financial reasons behind the move.

Miners have until the shutdown to redirect their machines to other providers. After the deadline, Binance will no longer record mining shares, which track contributed computing work and help determine payments. Pool Savings customers must redeem their positions, while users expecting final payouts must complete any necessary identity verification by 11:59 p.m. UTC on November 10.

Binance will permanently take down the pool’s webpages on November 24. Customers will have an additional two weeks after the service closes to download transaction records and review outstanding payment information.

Binance Previously Backed Mining Expansion With a $500 Million Loan Program

The shutdown comes after Binance made efforts to provide financial support to Bitcoin miners. In October 2022, the exchange announced a $500 million lending program through Binance Pool to help mining businesses finance expansion and operations.

The initiative offered secured loans with terms of 18 to 24 months and interest rates ranging from 5% to 10%. Binance’s latest announcement did not explain how the closure would affect the lending program or disclose whether any loans remain unpaid.

Major Mining Pool Exits Could Increase Industry Concentration

Binance is the latest provider to discontinue Bitcoin mining pool services. SBI Crypto ended its pool operations on July 31 after previously accounting for about 2% of Bitcoin’s network hashrate. OKX also exited the mining pool business in February 2024.

In a December report, Hashrate Index described Binance Pool as the last remaining pool from the period when cryptocurrency exchanges began expanding into Bitcoin mining.

Poolin, once a dominant mining pool responsible for nearly 20% of global hashrate, filed for bankruptcy in July with approximately $173 million in liabilities. Its difficulties included frozen wallet funds and delayed mining developments in Texas. However, its share of Bitcoin’s computing power had already fallen close to zero years before the bankruptcy filing.

Hashrate Index’s latest figures show that a growing share of Bitcoin block production is concentrated among the biggest operators. Foundry USA, AntPool and F2Pool together represented approximately 64.2% of the network. In December, the three largest pools held a combined 61.4%, with ViaBTC occupying third place instead of F2Pool.

Mining pools typically determine which transactions their participating machines work to validate for inclusion in Bitcoin blocks. When established pools shut down, miners have fewer major providers to choose from, potentially concentrating influence over transaction selection and block production among the remaining operators.

Nevertheless, miners can move their computing power to smaller pools, and a pool’s share of the network does not mean it owns the hardware contributing that capacity.

If Binance Pool’s remaining computing power were transferred entirely to Foundry USA, AntPool and F2Pool, their combined share would rise to approximately 65%, assuming the rest of the network remained unchanged. Binance has not announced where the miners currently using its service will move their operations.